Mandates for shelters could cause owners to lose pets for good

A Bill in Madison would lessen the
time shelters would hold lost pets

There’s a flurry of action in Madison among lawmakers.

One bill, however, hasn’t been pushed through, and it’s an important one for pet owners.

The bill would lessen the amount of time a lost pet turned into the shelter could stay from seven days to four, before getting adopted out or, in some cases, euthanized.

That’s just not enough time, believes Kathy Poblowski with the group Lost Dogs of Wisconsin, which reunites thousands of dogs with owners every year.

‘There are lots of people that live paycheck to paycheck and they might have to wait until Friday, until they get paid (before) they can come up with the money to bail their dog or cat out,” Poblowski said. “Unfortunately, by that time, it might be too late.”

Animal advocates are keeping a close eye on the bill, and Poblowski has better ideas, like simply mandating that shelters put profiles of lost pets online.

“Some of them say they don’t have the time or they don’t have the resources to be able to do that,” Poblowski said. “But really, in today’s day and age, it’s very, very simple to click a picture with a cellphone and upload it to Facebook.”

Poblowski’s group primarily uses social media to help connect owners with lost pets. Last year, that happened almost 3,000 times for owners and dogs around Wisconsin. They’re still working on about 400 cases from 2015.

Poblowski says a better effort than lessening the days from seven to four would be to push for standards for pet shelters that would make it easier for owners to find their lost animals.  

“We deal with the owners every day,” she said, “and what we find is most people don’t even know where to begin looking for their animal.”